How Chloe became a £14k prize student...
SHE is surely the luckiest university student i n the country – or the craftiest.
In just five months Chloe Bingham, 19, has won an incredible £14,000 in cash and prizes from entering competitions.
It means that while some of her Glasgow University friends will be paying off student loans in their 30s, she is using Lady Luck – and competition savvy – to finance her studies.
Her haul of wins between August and last month now stands at 42 – ranging from a £10 iTunes voucher to a £10,000 cash prize and £1,200 ‘tech bundle’ from Currys and PC World.
Some months are less profitable than others, however. October was her most disappointing one, with a mere £420 worth of prizes, including a night out for 12 worth £300.
Miss Bingham, originally from Islington in London, said she went in for her first competition when just 11 and has become addicted to them.
The first-year film studies student said: ‘I started entering when I moved to a new area in London and I didn’t know anyone.
‘I saw a competition and I took an interest in it – and then I won. Ever since then I was hooked. It’s definitely addictive.’
She finds the competitions in magazines, online, on social media and on TV – using her writing and presentational skills to produce what she thinks the judges are looking for.
But there is an art, too, in knowing which competitions to enter.
‘I relied on the fact that students are quite lazy and I thought the level of entries would be quite low – so even though I’m not that artistic I still entered anyway,’ she explained.
‘A lot of the competitions I win are low-entry competitions – some only have ten or so entries.’
For her biggest win, the aspiring film director recreated the scene from Harry Potter where he learns he is a wizard using glove puppets.
Other prizes include camping tickets to V festival worth £400, a holiday for four in Wales and a Fortnum and Mason Christmas hamper – won by sending in the best Christmas jumper photo in an Instagram competition.
Miss Bingham said: ‘Normally I try and win specific things – things I think will be useful or things I enjoy like unique experiences. Some things I might sell, for example if I won an iPad I might sell it because I’ve got a tablet already – but the majority of things I’ve won I’ve kept or given away to friends and family.’
Miss Bingham said her lucrative hobby was not as time-consuming as some might expect – taking up around an hour or two a day.
As a sideline, she has set up a blog offering advice on how to enter competitions and providing internet links to them. And her top tip?
‘You have to be in it to win it.’
‘It’s definitely addictive’